


something old, something new

by AccioInvisibilityCloak



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Background Deamus and Parvender, F/M, Fluff, Subversion of Fandom Tropes, The Marriage Law, post-war AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-26
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-08-07 18:13:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16413392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AccioInvisibilityCloak/pseuds/AccioInvisibilityCloak
Summary: "We'll elope before anyone thinks to look for us, and no one can break our wedding spells without at least one of us consenting... Let me do this for you, please."Ron and Hermione's new relationship is tested by a situation out of their control. But if Death Eaters and jealousy and years of miscommunication couldn't keep them apart, what chance does a pesky little law really have?





	something old, something new

**Author's Note:**

> This is an old, old trope, and yet I've never seen one single marriage law fic in this fandom that felt in-character for how Hermione and Ron would really react. So I wrote one, just for fun. (Nothing against anyone who ships other things, this isn't meant to antagonize you, but to make Romione fans smile.) Enjoy!

*******

         Ron clears his throat nervously, gathering his resolve before knocking on his own bedroom door. “Hermione, are you alright? I need to talk to you about something.”

He already knows Hermione will be there. They’ve been staying together at the Burrow while the wizarding world rebuilds, just stuck in a kind of limbo. His mum hadn’t been thrilled about her son and his new girlfriend sharing a room, but in the end, she’d had to give in. It’s only practical, considering that, when placed in separate rooms, he and Hermione both keep having nightmares of the war and Malfoy Manor, then waking up screaming for each other, rousing the whole Burrow multiple times a night. Being together just... it makes everything that much easier, more secure.

Now, Ron breathes a sigh of relief as he hears her absently mutter a spell and the door swings open.

“Come in,” she calls.

          Hermione is sitting by the window in a patch of sunlight, Crookshanks curled at her feet as she pores through one of a stack of large, heavy books. The sun’s caress against her brown skin and beautiful, natural hair makes Ron’s heart beat just a little faster. Her hair is extra frizzy, the way it gets when she’s worried or stressed. Some of that worry has lifted since the war- some, but not enough.

“What, Ron?” Hermione sighs, still nose-deep in the book. “I’m really quite busy, you know, I have to build an airtight case against this Merlin’s- _bollocks_ of a law before it goes any further. Honestly, I don’t know _what_ the Ministry’s thinking…”

“Hey,” Ron says, suppressing a smile at her uncharacteristic swear words. “I agree, it’s crap. I want to help you.”

He sits down next to her and cracks open another dusty book, apparently borrowed from what’s left of Percy’s personal library. Crookshanks hisses in annoyance at Ron’s proximity and flounces off to curl up on Hermione’s camp bed. Which is fair enough, she hasn’t been using it lately, anyway. 

“Oh, thank you, that’s sweet,” Hermione looks up at him at last, grateful and clearly exhausted. When he puts a hand on her knee in comfort, she lays her own soft palm atop his knuckles. “I’m sorry I’ve been distant. It’s just…”

“I know.” Ron sighs, flashing back to another afternoon at the Burrow, Hermione packing her things for the impending horcrux hunt. Ron had sat with her then, too, emotionally exhausted but determined to keep her safe, by any means necessary. That’s still what he means to do.

“I just _have_ to fight this,” she says, tense with righteous fury, and it’s breathtaking to behold. “I cannot _believe_ the Ministry actually passed such an archaic, barbaric excuse for a policy! Just because we lost so much in the war, they think they have a right to force people into marriage and children? It’s sickening. And I _hate_ that I can’t stop it.”

“Hermione, I know, the marriage law is completely mad. A lot of people think so, and we _are_ going to get it overturned by the Wizengamot, but until then, we don’t know how far they’ll go to enforce it. That’s what I wanted to talk about. I’m worried about you.”

She tears her hand away. “Oh, trust me, I am _not_ about to let the Ministry of Magic force a marriage on me just because I’m an of-age Muggleborn they can pawn off on any old pureblood man. What is this, _The Handmaid’s Tale_?”

“The what?” Ron asks, confused.

“Never mind. Just keep researching, we’ll find something that proves this is illegal. We _have_ to.”

              They sit in silence for a while, poring over the pages of Percy’s wizarding law and history books for anything useful. A Shacklebolt Ministry would never have let this happen, Ron thinks bitterly. If only that corrupt bureaucrat Bletchley from the Department of Mysteries hadn’t carried so much of the vote among Daily Prophet readers. They have a lot of work to do if they want to chase the corruption out of the magical government, and Ron knows just who he wants at his side during that work. There’s nothing else for it.

“Hermione,” he tries again, clearing his throat against his nerves. “Did you hear about Seamus and Dean? And Lavender and Parvati? They designed their own wedding magic outside the Ministry's approval and just got married, to avoid the law, you know…”

“I'm glad for them. Of course, a law as regressive as this _would_   be homophobic too,” Hermione sighs. “That’s our next fight, fully legalizing same-gender marriages among wizardkind. I really would have thought wizards would be more accepting, but then, we _did_ just nearly lose our whole society to a genocidal dictator with an immortality obsession, so.”

“Real cheerful, that,” Ron says, and Hermione’s lip actually quirks up, like she wants to smile. He’ll count that as a victory. “Listen, Hermione… what if there was a way for us to make sure you get to choose your own path, no Ministry interference?”

“What are you saying?” Hermione whispers, her full attention on her boyfriend now.

“Are you happy, with me?” he asks, both dreading and knowing the answer.

“Ron, you know I am. You’re _wonderful_.” She takes his hand again, warm and gentle, and it Vanishes the last of his fears.

“Then marry me, just for now.”

“I- _what_?” she splutters, shocked.

“Hermione, we should just _do_ it. I’m a pureblood wizard of marrying age, and I’ve a great-uncle who knows the old family wedding spells. We’ll elope before anyone thinks to look for us, and no one can break those spells without at least one of us consenting. This way, the Ministry doesn’t have a chance to force you into a match, and they can’t arrest you when we leave the country to rescue your parents either. You’ll be protected from the marriage law until we can get it repealed, and then if you want, we’ll annul the marriage and get back to our normal lives. It’s just a formality, and really, who cares? I love you, ‘Mione. I want you to be safe and happy and _free_ and… you’re the light in my life, after everything we’ve been through. Let me do this for you, please.”

“Ron. Stop,” Hermione says, eyes shining with unshed tears. “Dear, lion-heart boy. I love you, too.”

When she leans forward and kisses him, brushes her soft mouth against his own, Ron nearly forgets everything else in the world.

              They stay like that, kissing, in each other’s arms, for an interminable moment, suspended in time. When Hermione finally pulls away, her cheeks are wet with tears, and Ron immediately raises a hand to wipe them away.

“So… that’s a yes?” he asks, grinning.

“God, yes,” Hermione says, weak with relief. “If I have to marry anyone, which I really wish I didn’t, not at eighteen and after only six months of dating- I mean, there is absolutely no one I would rather marry than you, Ron.”

“Me too,” he says, and exhales his flurry of emotions as he holds Hermione close. She shudders against him and he instantly loosens his hold, concerned. But it isn’t the hug that’s bothering her at all.

“Can you imagine how _horrifying_ it would be to end up married to some creepy former Voldemort-sympathizer against my will?” she says, pulling him close again. “I don’t think I realized until this moment how scared I really was.”

“None of us would have let that happen to you,” Ron says firmly. “The Weasleys have your back, and- oh. Oh, fuck, _no_.”

“What?”

“I just thought of something scarier than shagging a Slytherin— telling my mother we’re engaged!”

Now, it’s Ron’s turn to cower in Hermione’s arms, and she laughs, running her fingers through his hair.

“Hey, hey,” Hermione grins. “You know I’ll be right there to protect you.”

*******


End file.
